As a mother of five who sang in a church choir and ran two businesses near Philadelphia, Garrett Aguilar considered herself happy.
But she also knew that depression ran in her family. When she began to show symptoms four years ago, her doctors tried a variety of standard treatments - six months on Prozac, a week on Wellbutrin and a year on Zoloft. Nothing could restore her spirits.
"I just found myself getting deeper and deeper. It got so bad I couldn't get out of bed," said Aguilar, 55, of Berwyn, Pa.
Then a friend mentioned an experimental treatment that sounded almost like science fiction. Called TMS - for transcranial magnetic stimulation - it attacks depression by applying a magnetic field to the brain.
She enrolled in a TMS clinical trial at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine - a site for one of two major TMS studies in recent years. The study was funded by a firm seeking federal approval for the first TMS device specifically designed to treat depression.
If approved, it could offer hope to the 4 million people who suffer from depression but fail to respond to standard therapies or can't tolerate the side effects, said Dr. Mark Demitrack, a psychiatrist and medical director of Neuronetics Inc. of Malvern, Pa.
"There's no question that what's out there now just doesn't work for everyone," Demitrack said.
Researchers have been exploring TMS for two decades, using a technique that can sound bizarre to the uninitiated. The test subject sits in a chair while a scientist places a magnet on his head, then sends magnetic pulses through his skull to "light up" various areas of the brain.
As strange as TMS seems, depression can be so debilitating that patients who fail to respond to other treatments are willing to try almost anything.
That's how bad things were for Aguilar by Christmas 2004, when she found she didn't even have the energy to decorate her house for the holidays - a ritual she always enjoyed. "I was at a point where I felt like I had nowhere else to turn," she said.
After participating in the six-week randomized trial, Aguilar agreed to a follow-up round of TMS treatments. "It kind of tickles your scalp," she remembered.
After a few weeks, she began to improve. These days, she takes a low dose of Lexapro, an antidepressant, and hasn't had a TMS session since March 2005. She credits the magnetic therapy with curbing her depression.
